The is an emerging industry and most of the tech giants are investing millions of dollars into it every year. Earlier, setting up home surveillance system used to be very costly and it would require a technician to put in place the bulky hardware and VCR to keep the recordings.

But, now the scene has changed, installing home security systems and home security cameras is a child’s play. Now, the help of a technician to get started with it is no longer required. I have used a few home security cameras before like NestCam, Canary, Samsung’s SmartCam and a few more.

Don’t think that I have a hobby of collecting these; I like to test out the new gadgets and then review it for you guys, so that you guys can have a better understanding of any product before buying it. Recently, I ordered D-link Full HD 180-Degree Wi-Fi Camera (DCS-2630L) from their website so that I can find out the new features and see if it really stands out on its specifications or not.

D-link Full HD 180-Degree Wi-Fi Camera

Let’s check out the 180° view

D-Link’s latest home security camera boasts of having the widest angle lens on a fixed camera and provides 1080p HD Quality Video. Other cameras in this price segment, like Nest Cam NC1102ES, Samsung’s SmartCam SNH-P6410BN and Canary’s Smart Home Security System CAN100USBK have 130° (D), 128° (D) and 147° (D) respectively. (It’s really 180 degrees!) The image is wide-view instead of spherical.

Image quality

DCS-2630L features a 1/3″, 3-megapixel sensor whose video quality is really good with sharp images and rich details. The camera has a wide-view and the image quality at the edges was fine (I won’t say excellent) when I recorded it in dim lighting conditions.

The best thing about this camera – It eliminates the large blind spots as in case of other cameras like the Samsung SmartCam and the Google Nest camera. I would say that the company has stood out on its unique de- warping Technology.

Better Wifi and Night Vision technology

As compared to other home security cameras in this segment like NetCam HD+ F7D7606, NestCam and Canary; D-Link Full HD Ultra-Wide view camera has the latest 802.11AC Wifi adapter which is compatible with 802.11n/g. Due to the latest adapter it has better bandwidth and improved range than the 802.11n.

The camera features both sound and motion alerts, which is still somewhat uncommon for comparable camera models. It has 6 Infrared LEDs with IR-cut filter, providing a bright, clear image up to 16 feet even in complete darkness.

The distance could have been more as Canary’s Smart Home Security System CAN100USBK provides clear images up to 25 feet. However, the image quality is much better in D-Link’s new camera as compared to the Canary’s.

No need to pay monthly bills for cloud recordings

I have used NestCam before this and I was discouraged to use it for a longer period because of the monthly bills I’d have to pay for cloud recording (I use it only for home security purpose). This is the main reason that I bought this new camera for nearly $200 because it lets me record my videos to a microSD card (up to 128GB) without affecting my Internet bandwidth.

I also tried out the event trigger recording feature that only records video at specific conditions. Till now, it has worked fine with me and I didn’t face much difficulty setting these features. Also, the camera app is very user-friendly – Anyone can use it easily!

Expected Future updates

Currently, the DCS-2630L doesn’t support push notifications, but the company has promised to deliver an update in the future that will provide the ability to enable motion and sound push notifications. I hope they really keep up their promise because this was one of the reasons I bought this camera. If they won’t, I would never go for this company again.

My Final verdict

According to my experience with some of the Wifi security cameras mentioned above, I would prefer D-Link DCS-2630L because it has 180 degree wide-view, really easy to set up and use, saves my monthly charges on cloud services and a few other reasons.

The Full HD Ultra-Wide view camera by D-Link is a solid choice for surveillance cam newbies, homeowners and small business owners, who are looking for an easy way to keep tabs on their property. If you don’t have any problem to pay monthly rentals for cloud recordings, you can opt for other options also.

You can check out the detailed specifications of the camera at D-Link’s website.